At a time when competition is intense and consumers
are ever-more price-savvy and demanding in their
preferences, it is becoming increasingly difficult to
maximise the potential of even the most solid of
convenience store businesses.

Sales growth is hard to find, and the rising cost
base means there is no longer any room on shelves
for passenger products that don’t pay their way. But to
identify winners and losers and to update your range and
merchandising accordingly is tough to do on your own,
without the help of category experts or reliable sales data.

In that context, this year’s edition of
Convenience Store’s
annual Shop Project comes at an opportune time. Our
annual mini makeovers provide learnings for retailers
and manufacturers alike as both parties try to maximise
category sales from the limited space available inside a
typical local convenience store.

Suppliers from key categories such as bread, snacking,
spirits and pet care have rolled their sleeves up to drive
category sales at our participating stores by introducing
new products and updated merchandising plans, and
through the application of the latest shopper insight.

The results speak for themselves. In each case we
have seen improvements in some aspect or other of the
product categories in question at the subject stores, all
backed up by robust data delivered by our technology
partners The Retail Data Partnership and FCRS.